Honey Don’t! Blu Ray Review (Universal / Focus Features)

Honey Don’t! is a 2025 dark comedy co-written, produced, and directed by Ethan Coen (Fargo, No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Drive-Away Dolls). It was co-written, produced, and edited by Tricia Cooke (Drive-Away Dolls and Don’t Mess with Texas). It was produced by Tim Bevan (Drop Dead Fred, Romeo is Bleeding, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, Dead Man Walking, High Fidelity, Smokin’ Aces, Baby Driver, and Shaun of the Dead) and Eric Fellner (Sid and Nancy, The Substance, Hot Fuzz, Burn After Reading, The World’s End, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Love Actually, Notting Hill, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?). It had a budget of $20,000,000 and it grossed $7,437,568 worldwide at the box office. Honey O’Donahue (played by: Margaret Qualley from Drive-Away Dolls, The Substance, Happy Gilmore 2, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, The Nice Guys, and Poor Things) is a small-town private investigator that’s very skilled at what she does. She meets MG Falcone (played by: Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation, Legion, Agatha All Along, Safety Not Guaranteed, and Child’s Play) at a local bar and her unusual life starts to get better. Honey investigates a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church ran by Reverend Drew Devlin (played by: Chris Evans from the Captain America franchise, Avengers franchise, Fantastic Four franchise, Sunshine, Street Kings, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)!!!! Honey Don’t is the 2nd solo directorial effort from Ethan Coen. I enjoyed Drive-Away Dolls but I thought it could have been much better, I think Honey Don’t is an improvement over that one. I still hope that he reunites with his brother Joel for some future projects because their films together were some of the best around when they did a collaboration. The script has a nice mix of mystery and dark comedy. It’s loaded with plenty of wacky characters. Margaret Qualley is currently one of the most talented young actresses right now. She’s great as the blunt Honey O’Donahue. She keeps it real and she’s relentless when doing her job. I am a huge fan of Aubrey Plaza so I was very excited see her in the unique Coen brothers universe as MG Falcone. She’s top notch as the new woman in Honey’s life, she usually just does one night stands with strangers so this is a big change for the feisty private detective. Plaza gives one of her best performances as the complicated woman with a past. These two are not shy at all in Honey Don’t, I was honestly kinda shocked how far they went here. Honey Don’t is very sleazy at times and that’s awesome considering it’s a bigger film because that almost never happens these days. Their chemistry is like a rollercoaster in this, the audience never knows what’s going to happen next with them. Chris Evans as Reverend Drew Devlin goes completely against typecast and it’s something different from the known actor. He shows his diverse talents, he’s manipulative and shady. He uses his power at the church for some sexual adventures. Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fist Fight, Pacific Rim franchise, and Horrible Bosses franchise) is hilarious as police detective Marty Metakawitch. He can’t seem to realize that Honey is into women and he consistently asks her out. All of those rejections never stop from trying. He’s more worried about getting her than solving crimes. The rest of the supporting cast includes Don Swayze (Beach Babes from Beyond), Billy Eichner (American Horror Story), Bill Camp (The Outsider), Lera Abova (Anna), Jacnier (Gina Yei), Gabby Beans (Presumed Innocent), Talia Ryder (Dumb Money), Kristen Connolly (The Cabin in the Woods), Lena Hall (Snowpiercer), Kale Browne (Another World), Christian Antidormi (Spartacus), Kinna McInroe (Office Space), and Josh Pafchek (Zoe Valentine). Honey Don’t delivers violence, dark humor, suspense, drama, and sleaze. The plot is very thin but it lets the awkward and brutal scenarios drive Honey Don’t into something entertaining. It does drag a little bit but it’s worth sticking around for. It’s nice to get that noir type of atmosphere because it’s really rare in modern film. It reminds me more of those classic Coen brothers efforts than the previous lone feature from Ethan. It has some interesting twists and turns. The finale has a quality payoff and it’s an overall fun experience. It was way better than I thought it would be, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Universal Pictures! This 1080p (2.39:1) / (1.85:1) transfer switches up it’s aspect ratio a little bit during it’s running time. It has phenomenal cinematography, sharp production design, and attention grabbing locations that stand out when it comes to the visuals. It has an English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track on the disc. The score is the highlight for this department but it does have some boosted intense moments. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a big boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. Unfortunately, there’s no special features on this home video release. It’s currently streaming on Peacock if you are curious about it. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!